8-year-old girl raped repeatedly and threatened by her grandfather in Mudon Township

November 29, 2018

WCRP: In November, an 8-year-old girl from Htin Kone village, Mudon Township, Mon State, reported being raped five times by her maternal, 50-year-old grandfather, who she had lived with since she was 3 months old. The girl’s parents had migrated to Thailand five years ago for work.

According to the young girl, the last incident took place on November 11th while she was watching TV in the afternoon. Her grandfather took her to his room and raped her. While he sexually abused the young girl, a 14-year-old girl from the neighbor’s house passed by in front of the victim’s grandparents’ house and saw the incident taking place. She then informed the perpetrator’s wife about what she saw.

On November 16th, U L— from the neighbor’s house phoned the young girl’s paternal grandfather and told them about the incident. The girl’s paternal grandfather went to see her granddaughter and asked her about what took place; she told him that she had been raped five times by her maternal grandfather.

On November 18th, the girl’s paternal grandfather went to the Mudon Police Station to report the abuse to the police, and they arrested the perpetrator who was charged under Burma Penal Code Article #376 (punishment for rape) at the Mudon Police Station.

“My grandfather would take me to his room if I had no school. Sometimes he would take me to his room once my grandmother went to the farm to find wood during the day, and sometimes he would wake me up during the night and take me to his room. My grandfather would sleep between my grandmother and me. Then he would threaten me that if I told anyone about it, he would beat me. I am afraid of him,” said the 8-year-old girl.

“Recently, we let the girl stop studying [and going to school] for a while. The police told us not to bring the girl to other places during the investigation process. We do not allow her to stay at her [maternal] grandparent’s house. We let her to stay with us. We heard that her mother is coming back from Thailand,” said the paternal grandmother of the girl.

On November 25th, the perpetrator confessed to his crimes at the Mudon Police Station but admitted to raping her only twice and to sexually abusing her twice.

The perpetrator is currently being detained at the Mudon Police Station.